Monday, January 31, 2011

You Had Me at Woof review

I'm a sucker for a dog book! And seriously, who could possibly resist a book with this adorable cover?! Well, I suppose if you aren't a dog person, you could easily resist, but I'm going on the assumption that anyone reading this review loves dogs as much as I do. Read on for some doggie goodness!

So, Julie Klam is thirty years old and single, looking for someone to spend her life with. Instead of a man, she snaps up Otto, a bug-eyed Boston Terrier who would proceed to change Julie's life from the point of adoption on. Otto was Julie's companion, best friend, and teacher for years, even after she married and had a human of her own for love and support. Otto also lead to Julie's absolute love of the Boston Terrier breed, inspiring her to continue rescuing the dogs throughout the next several years, even after Otto had passed away himself.

What you'll find in these pages is both hilarious and heartbreaking stories of the dogs Julie brought home and others she simply helped in their journey to forever home. I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud reading a page and then was crying a few sentences later...it's that emotional for me! It's such a heartwarming and inspirational book, making excellent points that we don't always end up with the dog of our choice, but rather the dogs that we need the most come to us.

Sentences like: "But with Moses I began to understand that 'dog' was its own category of 'love.' Sometimes you just need to hold and kiss a member of the dog species. Even when humans are available" (108) had me totally relating and nodding my head in agreement, while the story of Julie and her mother having to make the choice to put down a dog had me sobbing. The very next page, however, referred to a white Husky named Honky, which sent me into hysterical fits of laughter for the next 20 minutes. Seriously, HONKY???!! (121).

Overall, a happy and fun book for dog lovers. I would recommend this as a gift for anyone loving Boston Terriers, a dog rescuer, or just someone like me that is overly obsessed with their own dogs. My only complaint was the lack of photos. If you're going to write a book about adorable, trouble-making dogs, add some pictures please!

You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secretes of HappinessJulie Klam240 pagesAdult Non-FictionRiverhead Books9781594487767October 2010Library copy

3 comments:

I LOVE the cover of this book! Even though my dog is a pug, he has more of a Boston Terrier expression to his face than a pug face. So whenever I see anything with a Boston Terrier it always reminds me of my dog Guenter.

I also identify with the statement about needing a dog's love even when a human is present. Non dog people probably think I have social issues but when I'm really upset, it's not my husband or kids I want to hug, but my dog. Great review! I'm a sucker for dog books too.

Nice to meet you!

I'm Amanda! I'm a book lover, former librarian, wannabe runner, military wife, and toddler mom. Here you'll find ramblings on great books for all ages and the occasional musing on life. Thanks for stopping by!